Conservation!

Conserve, damn it!

Want to help the country save a quick million barrels of oil a day? Drive 5% less. Slow down. Inflate your tires.

Those three steps would reduce U.S. oil consumption by 1.3 million barrels a day immediately, according to the Alliance to Save Energy, a conservation group running an efficiency campaign backed not only by environmental groups but also the auto and oil industries.

That's nearly twice the estimated daily oil production that could come from drilling in the Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to the government's Energy Information Administration.

Hilarious

Wear Science!

Hypothesis: Over 99% of prehistoric animal species are now extinct, many of which were no doubt delicious. By mastering advanced cloning techniques we can incorporate these long dead animal species into a unique and scrumptious BBQ experience.

Result: The T-Rex proved delectable, but our 'Kiss the Cloner' apron failed to deliver.

I know what I'm asking for on my birthday!

Elected Official-dom

About a month ago, my parish requested that interested individuals submit their name for consideration for a position on the parishes school board. I had been looking for ways to become more involved in my parish, and figured with all the recent ruckus about meddling with curricula and the like, that I'd throw my hat into the ring. I offered my services and it appears that I was nominated and then elected to the school board for a two year stint.

I didn't actually think that I'd be selected. I don't have a very high profile at my parish (though I do lector once a month at the Saturday Mass), and I don't have children, so I figured I'd get passed over. But I must admit that I think it's kind of cool. I don't believe I'll be shaping the minds of our youth, directly ... but it's a responsibility I plan on taking seriously. First order of business, as far as I imagine, is to get a feel for what the budgets and curricula look like, and see if anything patently absurd is present. I hope I don't see anything mentioning Intelligent Design.

Wish me luck!

Currently ...

Listening To

I'm baaacck!

After a few days away from the blogosphere I almost wondered if I should return. Of course, I couldn't let my faithful readers down, so here I am. It was a rather eventful few days, culminating in the wedding of my little sister (of which I'm still in denial, both of her not being so little anymore, and of her getting married). Anyways, the science blogging (or lack thereof) will now commence.

Buh Bai XP

Microsoft gets ready to deep six XP.

I'm not sure how I feel about Vista. Everything I have heard indicates that Vista is an unmitigated disaster. Maybe my new computer will be a Mac.

If I happen to attend Olberman's funeral ...

... I'll be sure to bring ketchup.

What a rube.

Maybe I'll travel first class to really stick it to him.

Why Japan didn't invade Iraq ...

... they were too busy sitting on the toilet.

Japan actually has the following two committees/councils:

1. Electric Toilet Seats Evaluation Standard Subcommittee
2. Warm-Water-Shower Toilet Seat Council

I guess their bum-washing toilets are a problem though ... they consume 4% of an average Japanese households energy. Holy crap! Talk about flushing energy down the drain! The top models go for $4k! Not cheap ... and it's altering male behavior ... with more men sitting down to urinate. Supposedly to cut down on "urine splash". Wouldn't want to dirty the porcelain throne ya know.

Hey, dude ...

... if you really think the world is coming to an end in 2012, why are you stocking up on emergency supplies?

Something to think about ...

... when considering all that flooding in the Mid-West over the past couple of weeks.

We may have brought this upon ourselves.

And no, I'm not talking about global warming. It may be attributable to overdevelopment.

About those digitial converter boxes ...

... that we've heard about ad nauseum for the last several months. Chances are, you don't need it. If you have cable, or digital television, save your money. Only if you're still using rabbit ears, will you need to get a converter box.

The following article explains that, as well as a recent scam you should avoid.

By now you know that TV is changing next year. Starting Feb. 17, 2009, local TV stations will turn off their analog transmitters and go all digital.

If you have cable or satellite you don’t need to do anything. But if you have an analog TV and get your signal with an antenna, you’ll need a digital converter box or your TV won’t work.

Bold emphasis mine.

GenBank is Broken

Meet GenBank. As NCBI explains GenBank, it is: the NIH genetic sequence database, an annotated collection of all publicly available DNA sequences.

GenBank might be annotated, but it certainly isn't curated. As I'm going to research blog, eventually, GenBank contains many incorrect sequences. One example is the multitude of chimeric 16S sequences found scattered amongst the sequences of the GenBank database.

The question is ... what to do with them? Sandra, over at DigitalBio has written several blog entries to this effect lately. As someone who is critical of GenBank (who have a non-redundant ("nr") library which they admit is no longer non-redundant), I offered my own solution.

Appointed editors.

Here is what I wrote (slightly edited to make my point clearer).

Does GenBank need to be fixed? Yes, at least in the sense that sequences which are clearly proven to be erroneous (such as chimeric 16S sequences) need to be marked as such. I wouldn't necessarily remove them, because they can still serve a useful purpose (such as being test samples for chimeric sequence detectors). However, they need to be re-annotated.

My recommendation? Have GenBank editors, members of the scientific community, who field reports on sequences from the scientific community and make determinations as to the "final call" on a particular reported sequence. This process should be non-anonymous, and it should be documented in the gene record (to avoid constant reporting of the same sequences). Someone spots a problem, they file a report. The report is handled by the editor who then contacts the individual who submitted the sequence (i.e., the submitter). The submitter can then defend their submission, or admit the error. If they defend their submission, the editor gets to make the final call, weighing all the evidence. This way it doesn't fall on the GenBank staff to handle everything, and also gives people in the community a chance to put something else on their CV.

Sandra (who liked the idea), described it as follows:

Temporary editor positions could be analogous to being a program officer at the NSF, or serving on a study section or being on committee for reviewing grant proposals.

Which is exactly what I had in mind. A large portion of the scientific community already volunteers their time in such fashions, this would be nothing extraordinary.

Animal Rescue

I'm an easy mark for dogs. Act all cute, look lost ... and I'll fawn all over you. A couple of days ago, this fellow (pictured above) showed up at my door. He had appeared once before, but he had gotten out of my backyard (the wife has seen his fence jumping skills in action). Well, approximately three weeks later, he showed up again. This time I was smart and placed him on my dog run. He hasn't gone anywhere since ... unless I've been with him and he's been on a leash, in a crate, or in my house.

I adore the guy. I do have people putting feelers out to see if anyone wants to adopt him, but honestly ... I want him to go to a great home, and I don't trust anyone but me to do the job properly. I already have two dogs, and it's not as if they're cheap to take care of ... if you plan to do it properly. So I don't know what I'm going to do. I do know I have plans to build a kennel in my backyard if we do keep him, but I also had plans to build a Chimney Swift tower ... and it's not as if my backyard is HUGE.

The one thing that was very distressing though was calling the dozen or so no-kill rescues in the area I live around (plus ~200 mile radius), only to hear they are all full. They said they've been making rescues from pounds/shelters at an alarm rate. It's a shame. These guys don't deserve to live a life of abandonment, not knowing the love of a family (their pack). They deserve forever homes. The only way to ensure that more of this doesn't happen ... spay/neuter your dog. This helps keep the populations down, and keeps strays to a minimum. The fewer dogs in the pound, the fewer that need to be put to sleep.

Please, spay/neuter your pets.

Remember when I said ...

... that we could look into the future? It seems as if bacteria can too.

Microbes may be smarter than we think. A new study by Princeton University researchers shows for the first time that bacteria don't just react to changes in their surroundings -- they anticipate and prepare for them. The findings, reported in the June 6 issue of Science, challenge the prevailing notion that only organisms with complex nervous systems have this ability.

I knew it!

Bad guys get all the girls.

Uhhh, she's 15 inches tall ...

Sony makes robot that can "act like a real girlfriend".

"She's very lovable and though she's not a human, she can act like a real girlfriend."

Did I already mention she's 15 inches tall? I'm sure most people have dated women who weren't exactly tall, but 15 inches would be a tad too short by just about everyone's standards.

Pet cloning

Over at Digital Bio, Sandra is writing about the phenomenon of pet cloning. My take on it? Waste. Of. Money. With the amount of cute, lovable, and totally perfect dogs and cats in shelters waiting for a forever home and loving owners ... cloning a pet is, as far as I am concerned, ethically reprehensible. It's a status symbol move, and while it could be borne out of grief, that doesn't make it acceptable. And boo to those who have sold out and provide these services. Jerks.

Here is the thing: The clone WILL NOT be your old pet. It won't look identical, it will not behave identically either. It certainly won't have the memories your old pet had, and it won't have the same likes/dislikes. It probably won't have the cute little mannerisms you came to love in your old pet either. People who clone their pets are bound to be disappointed when they find these things out ... the hard way. You should love your new pet because of who they are, not what your old pet was. That's the only fair way. Besides, your cloned pet will have a shorter lifespan, not to mention other problems. Remember Dolly? She lived to be six years old, only half of the average lifespan of a sheep. Thing is, she was cloned from a six year old sheep herself, so at one year of age ... genetically, she was seven. You want to pay for that?

Adopt. I did.

This is Casey, my GSD. She's adopted, and I wouldn't trade her for anything.

Fortunately ...

... I don't have children, so I don't have to worry about being a chaperone. Though this comment really irks me:

"If you're a good parent, you're not going to have problems," said Krueger, who has handled numerous cases of children injured while in the custody of someone other than their parents. "If you're a crappy parent, you are."

I call bull on that. This is funny, especially considering that Kreuger is the lawyer who represented the parents of the girl who died (due to alcohol consumption). So tell me, were the Crossan's good parents? Their 16 year old was the one drinking, and there is a good chance it probably wasn't the first time. If someone raises their child like crap, there is no way a chaperone (who isn't the parent) should feel as if they will "not have problems", even if they're a good parent. At least not on a short trip. Plus it's a lose/lose situation for the chaperone. If the child acts like a little snot, and the chaperone imposes a curfew or punishment, you know the child will call the parents and the parents (who probably spoil the little snot) will complain. If the chaperone doesn't do a thing and the child gets hurt, the parents will raise a stink. Nevermind that I can hear the "You're not my mom/dad!" screams when the little brat doesn't get their way.

I guess I'd rather hear someone complain than sue me, because frankly I could care less about people whining and moaning ... and I'd be safe legally. I think. Next thing we know people will sue because their "experience" was ruined.

Currently ...

Listening To

Colony Collapse Disorder? Yeah right ...

... not for these folks. Their walls oozed honey, due to having over 60,000 bees inside the walls of their house. Goodness gracious!